In busy life, it is difficult sometimes to find enough time for cooking. So, to help the busy people in cooking, pre-washed, chopped and leafy fresh vegetables are being sold in Rajshahi.
Monowara Begum and her granddaughter Champa Begum are selling various washed and chopped leafy vegetables including those of grass pea (khesari dal) and lamb's-quarters (bathua) at the C & B intersection in the city.
People, especially those who love to eat fresh greens but cannot get enough time to chop and prepare them, are crowding to buy the washed and fresh vegetables.
Sneh Lata, a resident of Lakshmipur area in Rajshahi city, said that chopping leafy vegetables was more difficult for them than cooking those.
"Fresh leafy vegetables are my favourite. But, it takes a lot of time to chop and prepare them for cooking. Now, I am getting clean and chopped vegetables very easily", she said.
Lutfar Rahman, a former official of Rajshahi University who came to buy one kilogram of grass pea greens, said that it cost him Tk 30 to reach the C & B intersection.
"Fresh leafy vegetables are not available everywhere in the city. Even if they are found, it is too difficult to chop them at home. So, I have come here to buy chopped and fresh vegetables", he added.
Auto-rickshaw driver Hasibul Islam, who bought three types of vegetables, said that it was almost impossible for them to buy fish and meat from the local markets, and he, therefore, preferred buying leafy vegetables.
He said that he would also take those washed and chopped leafy vegetables to his daughter's house in Dhaka as fresh vegetables were difficult to find in the capital city.
Meanwhile, selling various kinds of washed and chopped leafy vegetables has made Monowara Begum and Champa Begum economically self-sufficient.
Manowara said that she bought the vegetables from a local farmer who cultivated various leafy vegetables on the banks of the Padma River.
"We usually buy one kilogram of leafy vegetables at Tk 50-60 and sell the washed and chopped ones at Tk 80-100", she said, adding that they made a profit of Tk300-400 per day.
Champa Begum, who was sitting next to Manwara, said that she used to work in others' houses throughout the year except the winter season. "In winter, I sit with chopped leafy vegetables at this place and earn Tk400 to 500 per day," she added.
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